Bangers and mash

As the nights draw in and the leaves begin to change colour and fall, our new menu options reflect the changing of the season.

Our perfect pub classic autumn/winter dish of bangers and mash makes a welcome return, following its brief summer break, offering a heart-warming meal which has been a firm favourite – for ever.

Delicious

Served with three succulent Lincolnshire sausages, a good helping of Maris Piper mash, garden peas and a delicious caramelised onion & ale gravy, it rejoins our pub classic line-up. Bangers and mash is a common British dish comprising sausages (bangers) and mashed potato (mash). Traditionally served with onion gravy, it is a staple of the country’s overall cuisine and is a popular pub dish.

Bangers

The term ‘bangers’ supposedly originated during World War I, when meat shortages resulted in sausages being made with several cheaper fillings, notably water, causing them to pop and explode, when cooked. No such worries in Wetherspoon’s kitchens, with our prime meat premium pork Lincolnshire sausages, as well as our vegetarian option and regional variations.

The word sausage derives from the Latin salsisium, meaning something which has been salted. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first specific reference in English came in 15th-century vocabulary – ‘salcicia’, a ‘sawsage’. Sausages are thought to have first been introduced to Britain by the Romans c400 AD.

During the early days of the Empire, Romans mixed fresh pork with finely chopped white pine nuts, cumin seeds, bay leaves and black pepper. In 320 AD, because of sausages’ association with pagan festivals, Roman Emperor Constantinus I and the Catholic church made sausage-eating a sin – and their consumption was banned.

Under the rule of King Charles I, sausages were divided into links for the first time. Queen Victoria was apparently particularly fond of sausages, but made the tedious request that the meat used be hand-chopped, rather than minced.